WELD — Mark Lohmann of Poland came upon a most astonishing sight while hunting in woods near Route 142 this month.
“I have often thought it would be neat to see two bucks fighting in the woods in November,” he said in a recent interview. “It never crossed my mind I would find something like that.”
Two bucks whose antlers became locked during a fight are seen Nov. 4 at the home of Tom and Gordeen Skolfield in Weld. Their son-in-law, Mark Lohmann of Poland, came upon the deer while hunting in woods off Route 142 in Weld. One died of a broken neck in the fight and Lohmann shot the other. Submitted photo
What started out as one more quick gander through the woods Nov. 4 turned into an hours-long adventure.
Hearing noises, he first thought it could be two bucks fighting. “Then it went on and on, I wondered if it was a moose in there,” he said.
Soon afterward he saw a buck.
“I could see in my scope the antlers of the deer with its head down,” Lohmann said. “I could see another deer’s antlers too. I watched them for awhile. The one still standing was calm. When I got close, it started thrashing, trying to get away.”
What seemed to take five minutes to realize what he was seeing through his scope was probably 30 seconds, he said. It was two bucks with their antlers locked together.
“I told myself I had to take the shot, you can’t leave them like that,” he said of the 10-pointer standing.
The other one, an eight-pointer, died of a broken neck in the fight, probably sometime after noon because he and his wife, Chelsie, had been hunting in that area earlier that morning.
Lohmann estimated the two had fought in a roughly 12-foot diameter area.
“There was a little bit of runoff in the area,” he said. “They created a puddle just by tearing up the ground there.”
Attempts by the couple and her parents, Tom and Gordeen Skolfield of Weld, to separate the two deer were unsuccessful so they dragged the carcasses 75 to 100 yards to get close to an ATV.
“Then we had 400 feet of rope,” Mark said. “Luckily I was able to just reach them, slowly pull them out with the winch on the side-by-side.”
It took about three hours to get the deer out of the woods and back to the Skolfields’ home where they were met by a game warden who had been notified of the situation. It was another two hours before they got to Skoolhouse Variety, where the 10-pointer was tagged. It dressed out at 200 pounds. The eight-pointer was estimated to be heavier.
“I harvested a buck last year that weighed nearly 231 pounds,” he said. “I thought that one was a struggle. It was nowhere near what this was.”
The warden permitted Mark to keep the head and antlers of the dead buck, and he hopes to have the two mounted with their antlers still locked together just the same as he came upon them.
The eight-pointer will be processed and donated to the Hunters for the Hungry program, Lohmann said.
“It all worked out good,” he said.
Tom Skolfield posted an item Nov. 4 about the incredible hunt on his Facebook page. “It was a very memorable day in the Maine woods,” he wrote.
“What an epic story to tell,” Mark said.
Lohmann and his wife, Chelsie Lohmann, had been hunting near the home of her parents, Tom and Gordeen Skolfield, who live on the other side of Weld along Route 142 headed towards Phillips.
That afternoon Chelsie was back at the camper at her parents after dropping Mark off in the woods.
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